How can a child who is blind differentiate between a touch cue and a sign made on his or her body?
Initially, the child may perceive the sign made on his or her body as a touch cue having a very fixed meaning within a specific context. Through consistent exposure to the sign (i.e., by encouraging the child to feel the signer s hands and by using coactive and tactile signs) and its referents (objects, people, or activities), he or she may gradually recognize a sign that is produced on his or her body (e.g., if the signer places his or her hand on the child s mouth to sign EAT, the child will feel the placement of the touch on his or her mouth and not perceive the flat O hand shape that is a feature of EAT) has the same meaning when it produced coactively or signed tactilely in different situations.
